For today’s edition of Feature Friday, we bring you a local Bosnian talent and model Dina Pandzic. She was born in the industrial town of Lukavac in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina. A short time later, Bosnia declared it’s independence from former Yugoslavia following the path of Croatia and Slovenia which led to the start of the Bosnian war. After much hostility and uncertainty, Pandzic’s family decided to leave the war torn country and immigrate Toronto in 1995.

Growing up, Dina always enjoyed being in front of the camera, but her modeling career truly started when she was helping a aspiring photographer friend by posing for pictures. By the time Dina turned 17, she fully dedicated herself to modeling and decided to pursue modeling by attending local modeling events as a side job in hopes of funding her dream goal of becoming a beauty salon owner.

She went on to become a licensed esthetician and now operates her own salon out of Toronto.

Pandzic’s other work includes being involved and dedicating herself to voluntary work in Bosnian and Herzegovina. When visiting BiH, she makes a point to give aid to disadvantage orphans from her country. Without a doubt, she’s a proud Bosnian – having visited many countries throughout her modeling career, Dina wholeheartedly admits that Bosnia is still her favorite travel destination.

When this beauty is not traveling, modeling or running a business, she loves to spend time reading, cooking and exercising.

Young, smart and successful -  this Bosnian beauty shows that when you work hard, go for your dreams and give back, success always comes through. All the best to Dina Pandzic with her future goals from the Za-Vas Team.

For this edition of Feature Friday, we bring you a young music artist from Zenica who is a successful student of the English Department at IBU and who also has a number of solo projects under his belt already. He is talented, humble with a big personality. His name is Jasmin Alic aka” BIGGA”, and he’s a Bosnian rap artist who has the drive, passion and determination to succeed in a very crowded music world.

He writes his own songs and composes it as well. He performs fluently in English, German and Bosnian. Even with all the success already, one thing that’s certain is that BIGGA has very big plans for the future. But what makes BIGGA so unique, is that he’s a hip hop artist who wants to bring back that old style flavour of Hip Hop through great story telling lyrics that paint a picture as you hear the song.

When recently asked in a interview how to describe his music, BIGGA replied, “My music is one big story that won’t see its denouement any time soon, simply because collecting pens and paper has been a hobby of mine since my childhood days. The difference between BIGGA and the rest of the music world is that a rarity of musicians can actually tell their life stories and dreams with those two things only.”

And with a statement like that, it’s no wonder that the nickname BIGGA simply means ‘Bigger than your average rapper.’ Who would have thought.

So, where does BIGGA see himself in the future?

“I see progress. One of my favourite all-time quotes is ‘Sleep is for those people who are broke’. I never sleep. I work day and night to make my goals come to life and to justify the reason I do this for. The world is on a slippery slope. At least the music can be better. And that is my reason. One man can make a difference. The American Dream is just a pretentious theory people dream of,  I just want to use my talent to its utmost limits, because dear Allah created everything for a reason – and all of us, as well.”

Without a doubt he’s a confident man with an abnormal rapping ability, who’s ultimate goal is to bring something fresh to the Hip Hop game, rather than become another product that’s been seen and heard millions times before – same product, but different wrapping. Thus far all of his production, recording and releases have come under his movement called GIANT RECORDS, which has seen no financial backing from other sources.

BIGGA grew up listening to predominantly Hip Hop music, so it’s no surprise he mostly raps in English. He also has produced a few songs in Bosnian and in German. Jasmin Alic is a great example of a true realistic visionary. Talented, hungry for success and full of ambition – he is very well on his way towards making his dream a reality.

Check out Jasmin’s official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/officialbigga

This week’s Feature Friday, Sejla Kameric, is one of few artists participating Yebizo, an annual event organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography as a part of the Tokyo Culture Creation Project, which ran February 8-24.  This fifth installment is made up of two words: public and diary.  These are two words that often possess very different meanings.  According to organizers, public refers to society, history and authority, while diary is connected to terms such as personal, subjective and private.

Kameric’s artwork brings forth her personal experiences, among the broader and public ones throughout the conflict in her home country Bosnia and Herzegovina.  A multi-disciplinary artist from Bosnia’s capital of Sarajevo, Kameric’s artwork is such that strongly expresses her complex feelings about the 1990s war that devastated B&H.  A teen when war conflict broke out, Kameric considers any recordings of one’s thoughts public.

“If it is written down, in order for it to exist and outlive you, then that is in some way public,” explained Kameric during a tour of the exhibition. “When I make an artwork about my personal,

Like many of her fellow artists, Kameric has found a gray area where private and public are broadened for a new definition.

“Bosnian Girl” (2003) is a piece that Kameric has on display for Yebizo.  It is a poster inspired by upsetting graffiti about Bosnian women, written in Sarajevo during the conflict.  Kameric’s response to this upsetting graffiti is her piece: a photo of her with the graffiti’s text splashed across it.